Paradise Lost (Thrift Editions)

I wanted to read this especially as I love the Iambic Pentameter blank verse style of writing but also because I have been thinking of writing a major biblical poetic work since I started writing spiritual poetry for about four years now. The idea of reading Milton had been on the back burner for years.I read it through lightly, as I am not versed in the classics, but was looking for inspiration from the poem for my own project. I got that in bucketloads and have since started my poem, having written over 1050 lines so far. It will take time but I will get there. Paradise Lost is a real journey, difficult at times, but so worth it. Essential reading.

This is a review of the book's presentation.This is a review of the Slipcase edition.The value for your money with this hardcover edition is going to be hard to beat. I already had a paperback version of Paradise Lost and I was looking for a version that presented the contents with appropriate decoration. This edition makes the most of Gustave Dore's illustrations with an embossed picture on the front cover of the book. The slipcase itself is done nicely and is a small peak at what to expect. Once you remove the book you see the embosssd picture of one of Gustave Dore's illustrations and throughout the book all of his illustrations are printed very large on their own page.I'd say this version is definitely for someone (like myself) who is already familiar with this poem and wants a deluxe presentation of it. However looking at the price of this book just being £10, which I cannot believe as this would easily pass for a book of £50 and considering the price of paperback editions if you are buying this poem for the first time you might as well buy this version and not bother with a cheap paperback.

The famous interpretation of Paradise Lost is that Satan is the hero with all the best lines. And there is a lot of validity in that. When he rebels in Heaven, taking with him a third of the angels, stricken by "envie" of the Son, he reveals himself as a thoughtful, interesting, innovative, brave character. But you can interpret Paradise Lost as a comparison of Satan and the Son. And the Son is presented as a kind, modest, thoughtful, innovative, brave character. He is kinder and softer than the humanised Son of the New Testament, and he softens the Father who immediately accepts his pleadings on behalf of mankind. The love that comes from the Son seems similar to me to the love which Popes, archbishops and cardinals refer to when they repeat the idea that "God is love". His love is immediate and merciful - not like the angry love of Jesus in the New Testament or the tough love of the Father. For instance, the Son is described as having a "sense of new job ineffably diffused" within him and of having "Divine compassion" which visibly appeared on him, and showing "Love without end, and without measure Grace". The Father also becomes deeply merciful, stating at one stage that either justice will survive or that man will - meaning that, if he wants man to survive, he must be merciful.Another hero is Adam who also becomes thoughtful and brave as he becomes older and develops. Eve is tricky as she is painted as the traditional, beautiful wife who gets into terrible trouble when she uses her initiative (and eats the apple). The portrait of Eve is shocking, in fact. No wonder women were repressed by men when they read this or the Old Testament. She was blamed for everything and was untrustworthy and, under pressure, slippery. (At one stage she blames Adam for having listened to her entreaties to let her go off alone and, as it worked out, to be tempted by the serpent.)Anyway, this is an astounding tale with wonderful characterisation, put together by someone with great imagination and great rationality. It is hard to read, however. Milton was a great linguist and his Latin style influences the construction of his sentences.Just to quote a little on Satan. After "the Arch-fiend lay/Chain'd on the burning lake", having left Heaven, he has to work out what to do and how to organise Hell as far as he can. He says that "The mind is its own place and in itself/Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n". Later he tries to work out what doing evil means in practice, and so aims to create a system in which "Fate shall yield/ To fickle Chance, and CHAOS judge the strife". That is an interesting definition of Hell, in my view, and one that we do import to earth (in civil wars, extreme poverty and even in normal life).This is ultimately a very optimistic work in many ways. For instance, the Angel Michael tells that fallen Adam that if he can feel love for others he "shalt possess a Paradise within thee" and that this could make him "happier farr" than just being in Paradise. Also, and this is easy to miss in the blandishments of the Testaments New and Old, man was created as a beautiful creature in the image of God. Adam and Eve seem "Lords of all" in Paradise.

Written in the early part of the Enlightenment or Age of Reason period, a wonderful, poetical, 17th.C. attempt to explain the human condition based on the mythical, biblical account of the creation of planet Earth. In short a text so good, I suggest, that it might easily make today's, 21st.C. non-indoctrinated, free thinking, materialist reader sad to be so enlightened! The 'kindle' format I received was in ten chapters with no notes so 'not the one to be with' if you're memory of and ability to understand the text is to be questioned.To call it 'illustrated' is an insult to anyone capable of reading it; the text most worthy of illustration I personally, have ever read, painting pictures continuously before ones eyes is supplemented here by a landscape 19th.C. painting at the beginning of each chapter by artists such as Anton Hlavacek and Albert Bierstadt not to detract from their works in any way.'Mustn't grumble', mind, @ 99p, worth every newpence and more.

This review is about the Oxford World's Classic edition of Paradise Lost.I thought the introduction got terribly bogged down about different theories of interpretation of the text and suspect there are better ways of approaching Milton than it offered; however, the font size and layout of the poem itself was really good. Generous margins on both sides leave lots of room for notes to myself as I wade through Milton's dense verse, and the paper is nice for writing on with a strong, sharp pencil.The footnotes tended to be of two types: either brief synonyms or modern equivalents of a word whose meaning has changed over the years, or brief explanations of allusions (mostly to either the Bible or Ovid). Sometimes, a summary of an obscure phrase or passage would have been helpful, but not often forthcoming.Overall, this seems a good text for anyone who's of the calibre to be reading (or in a position to be assigned to read) the full text of Paradise Lost.